Diver&#39;s weight belt



March 26, 1968 o. F. MASON DIVER'S WEIGHT BELT Filed 001;. 22, 1965 INVENTOR. AMA/4Q A A4430 United States Patent 3,374,636 DIVERS WEIGHT BELT Daniel F. Mason, 6110 N. Vineland, Apt. 3, North Hollywood, Calif. 91606 Filed Oct. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 501,792 1 Claim. (Cl. 61-70) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates generally to weight devices of the type used by divers for ballast. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a new type of belt for carrying weights used by skin divers to compensate the buoyant effects of their equipment.

The problem of buoyancy has long been of great concern to divers. In the past, where the diver was completely enclosed in a pressurized suit, the problem of weight was not so acute since it was not intended that the diver be able to move about too readily. In such instances, heavy shoes or large pieces of lead were attached to the divers suit to overcome the buoyant effect of the air in the suit and the other equipment. With the advent of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, where the diver is extremely mobile in the water and ordinarily must have his legs free for swimming, the problem of ballast has become more acute. The underwater breathing apparatus is ordinarily compensated to produce neutrol buoyancy, but there still remains the problem of the buoyancy of the divers wet suit. It is necessary in many waters for divers to wear tight-fitting rubber suits for warmth and protection in order to endure prolonged exposure. These suits consist of a relatively thick layer of cellular rubber, and therefore are quite buoyant. An adult male diver fully suited, equipped with neutralized breathing apparatus, may require an additional weight of 16 to 22 pounds for sea water.

The customary method used by skin divers for applying weights to their body is to attach a belt about the waist to which are secured a number of large cast lead weights. These weights are cast and sold in a few standard sizes and the diver ordinarily buys several so that the total weight exceeds the amount of ballast he will require. He then adjusts the ballast by slowly paring off some of the lead from the blocks until he achieves weightlessness in the water at the desired depth. Ordinarily, two or more such blocks are used forming rather large square chunks of lead which are spaced around the divers waist. The casting of these large chunks of material in a form by which they can be attached to the divers belt adds considerable expense to the initial cost of the lead itself. In addition, a considerable amount of lead may be wasted when the diver cuts down the size of the blocks to the desired weight.

It will be obvious that having once adjusted the weight of these blocks, it would be diflicult for the diver to change the weight in small increments as he may desire to do if his weight changes, or if he desires to wear only a portion of his rubber suit, or if he desires to dive in fresh water. A further disadvantage of these large blocks of lead is that they are not only uncomfortable to Wear, but can cause injury to the diver. The weight is concentrated at a few points around the waist of the diver. When he is out of the water, they can be quite uncomfortable. When the 3,374,636 Patented Mar. 26, 1968 diver descends below the surface, the pressure on the body causes the body to compress and at greater depths this compression becomes pronounced. This compression does not affect the weight of the belt and thus the belt becomes loose around the divers waist and ordinarily will move upwardly under the arms. In such a position, the large blocks of lead shifting under the arms frequently make swimming difiicult or uncomfortable and may injure the diver by coming in contact with his hip bones, elbows, or ribs. They also bang on the tank, attracting attention and alerting fish in the area. 1

The present invention solves the above mentioned problems by providing a weight belt wherein the weight is evenly distributed about the waist of the diver. The weight belt of the present invention has a number of tubes extending along the belt adapted to contain lead shot so that the weight of the belt can be conveniently adjusted and readjusted as desired. In addition, the weight of the Present invention employs an inexpensive form of lead ballast imparting a considerable saving to the diver.

It is an object therefore of the present invention to provide an improved type of divers weight belt.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a weight belt wherein the weight is evenly distributed about the divers body.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a weight belt wherein the amount of ballast can be easily and accurately adjusted.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a divers weight belt which is comfortable to wear and is less likely to make noise or cause injury to the diver.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide an improved form of divers weight belt having a new type of closure device. 5

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the weight belt of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along 2-2 of FIGURE 1.

The belt is constructed of a webbing material 11 which forms the backing or body of the belt. This webbing 11 is of a heavy grade having a thickness sufiicient to provide substantial stiffness to the body of the belt. On the exterior of the webbing 11 there is sewn a second layer of material 12 which is gathered and stitched in a manner to form one or more longitudinal tubular portions 13. The dotted lines 14 in FIGURE 1 indicate the approximate location of the stitching to form the tubular portions 13. At the extremity 15 of the webbing material 11, the outer material 12 is Wrapped over the end of 15 to form a binder 16 to prevent raveling of the webbing material 11.

At the other end of the material-12 there is provided a suitable closure device such as the Zipper 17. The zipper 17 allows access to the interior of the tubular portions 13. As shown in FIGURE 2, the tubular portions 13 are filled with lead shot 18. The material 12 is preferably of a resilient type such as stretch nylon and each of the tubular portions 13 will be entirely filled with shot 18 at the minimum required weight so that all of the shot 18 will be evenly distributed throughout the length of the tubular portions. The resiliency of the cloth material 12 will permit additional shot to be added as required. Even though the tubular portions 13 are entirely filled, the resilience of the cloth material 12 will permit the belt to be bent or coiled about the body of the wearer without bursting open the tubes as would occur with nonresilient material. The extremity 19 of webbing 11 is 3 also bound at 20 to prevent raveling f the webbing material 11.

The customary closure devices used for divers belts are various forms of metal buckles, all of which present a problem of corrosion, particularly in sea water but which can obviously be used in conjunction with the subject belt in place of the closure device shown. An improved closure device is shown, consisting of a strip of nylon pile 21 sewn to the webbing 11 intermediate the extremity 19 thereof and the approximate location of the zipper 17. On the opposite interior surface of the webbing 11 near the extremity thereof, there is sewn a strip of nylon hooks 22. A slight compressive force applied between the hooks 22 and the pile 21 causes engagement of the hooks with the pile. The large number of hooks contributes considerable strength to this engagement and the greatest strength is in a direction tangential to the surface of the webbing material 11. When it is desired to detach the belt, the extremity 15 is grasped and peeled away from the pile 21 by a relatively small force. The resultant closure device can be engaged anywhere along its length to adjust the belt to the circumference of the divers waist and the length of the closure device is made sufiicient to provide for such adjustment while retaining adequate security of the engagement. I

Since the lead weight is completely enclosed by the cloth material 12 and the webbing 11, when the diver descends to a depth such that the belt becomes loose about his waist, movement of the belt upward about the divers body will be less likely to cause injury to the diver since the belt is quite flexible and there are no large concentrations of Weight and all of the weight is padded by the cloth'material. The belt may be provided" initially with a minimum quantity of shot filling the tubular portions 13 whereupon the purchaser may then obtain additional increments of shot 18 to add to the belt to achieve the desired ballast. The cost of lead shot is approximately one-fourth that of the precast blocks of lead currently available. The diver can later add additional weight to the belt if desired. Although a considerable amount of shot fills the tubular portions 13, the resilience of thematerial'12 permits it to be easily wrapped about the divers waist. While the drawings show two tubular portions 13, it is considered obvious that one such tube could be used for lower weight belts, or that more than two tubes may be desired.

While a particular embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be obvious to persons skilled in the art that changes and modifications might be made Without departing from this invention in its broader aspects. .It is the object of the appended claim to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true scope and spirit of this invention.

I claim:

1. A divers weight belt for ballasting comprising an elongate strip of backing material, a second strip of material extending along one side of said backing material, said second material attached to said backing and arranged to form one or more longitudinal tubular portions, said second material being resilient forming expansible tubular portions, said tubular portions'having a variable quantity of shot therein sufiicient to substantially fill said tubular portions andto impart a variable weight to said belt, an aperture in said second material communicating with the interiors of said tubular portions, and closure means for closing said aperture whereby variations in the amount of shot can be made in small increments to adjust to the ballast required.

References Cited 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,025,886 12/ 1935 Nordstrom.

2,321,808 6/1943 Govan 2321 X 2,400,222 5/ 1946 Cline 224-28.2 X 3,086,529 4/1963 Munz et a1. 1 2311 X 3,220,197 11/1965 Christiansen 61-70 3,274,476 9/1966 Wildun 2245 X 3,298,689 1/1967 Santora 27267 DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner. I. K. BELL, Assistant Examiner. 

